Bethlehem Council approves changes to city’s requirements for data centers. Here are the details.
Bethlehem City Council approved a 6-1 vote changing the city’s data center zoning rules. Future data centers will be limited to industrial districts, require special exception permits, meet substantial setback requirements, and provide studies on grid, water, environmental, noise and other impacts.
Bethlehem City Council approved amendments to the city’s zoning ordinance that regulate future data center development. The new rules limit data centers to industrial zoning districts and require a special exception from the zoning hearing board, along with 200-foot setbacks from property lines and 1,000-foot setbacks from sensitive uses such as homes, schools, hospitals and daycares.
Developers must provide studies addressing electrical-grid capacity, waterways, wastewater, environmental effects, noise and vibration. They also must submit energy management, electronic-waste, decommissioning, emergency-response and thermal-impact plans, and pay for necessary grid upgrades.
The changes do not apply to a pending proposal from Boyle Construction for a 65,000-square-foot data center near Lehigh Valley International Airport. That project is expected to go before Bethlehem city planners next month.